Samantha Stosur will face Flavia Pennetta in the second match of the Australia v Italy Fed Cup match

Australia will mark their return to the Fed Cup World Group with a match against reigning champions Italy this week. There will be five games played between the teams as they aim to begin 2011 with a bang. A match that stands out as a potential crowd pleaser is the second match, involving Samantha Stosur and Flavia Pennetta.

Stosur will have the home advantage here in Hobart, though that’s no guarantee of success. Whilst she has made great strides up the rankings in recent years, it can’t be ignored that Stosur has a 0-3 head to head record against Pennetta. All of these matches have been fairly recent, and all have been won in straight sets. Stosur is yet to even push the Italian into a tie-breaker in a WTA match.

There is reason to believe that it might be different this time around. Stosur enters this tournament as Australia’s leading star, and this could motivate her to produce one of her best displays. It also seems reasonable to expect the Australian to defeat Pennetta eventually. Very few players achieve three successive victories against Stosur.

Despite this, Pennetta, the world No. 16, should have the psychological edge going into this match. She’s started the season fairly well, and also dominated in her most recent Fed Cup games against the USA in November last year. It remains to be seen whether or not she can seep aside Stosur a fourth consecutive time, though the Italian will surely be feeling confident.